Hail and hello, readers!  For those just joining us, this is 31 Scary Story Nights, a sort of Halloween Advent Calendar with a different classic scary story for each night in the month of October as we count down to Halloween!  Tonight’s scary story is called The Mad Monk, and it’s a classic cautionary tale.

Gather around, now, and dim those lights.  This is one tale that needs the cover of near darkness…

***Writer’s Note:  We here at iHorror are big proponents of responsible parenting.  Some of the stories in this series may be too much for your little ones.  Please read ahead and decide if your kids can handle this story!  If not, find another story for tonight or simply come back to see us tomorrow.  In other words, don’t blame me for your kids nightmares!***

The Mad Monk as retold by Waylon Jordan

Brother Matthias was no good monk.  In fact, it was a wonder he’d somehow taken the necessary oaths to enter the brotherhood as he seemed to love money and power more than charity, humility, or God.

Those who found themselves in the confessional opposite Brother Matthias would often find themselves extorted for money to keep their hidden sins from becoming public gossip.  He had no scruples in the use of violence to ensure the people’s silence in his activities however, and more than one met with a tragic accident in his time at the monastery.  He even managed to poison two of his fellow monks who had stumbled upon his activities.

Time went on, and Matthias’ soul grew darker by the day.  The darker his soul, the more bold he became in his schemes for he knew that he was untouchable.

It wasn’t until one young woman who had found herself pregnant outside the bonds of marriage survived the wicked man’s attempt to murder her when she refused to pay his blackmail that he was finally brought before the local court.

Brother Matthias was quickly found guilty, though he managed to spill more than a few secrets in an attempt to discredit some of the witnesses brought forth to testify for the accuser.

Justice was swift in those days and the echo of the gavel in the courtroom had hardly died out before Matthias was hanged in the public square.  When the hangman cut down the lifeless body of the Mad Monk, as he had come to be known, however, his body began to morph and change.

The thing that rose from the ground was no longer Matthias, in fact he hardly looked human at all with the fur that covered his body, the sharp teeth that grew from his now pronounced snout, and the short horns that grew from his forehead.

The witnesses to his execution screamed and fled in fear and the creature escaped into the forest.

It wasn’t long before the head of the monastery was found dead in the courtyard, his throat ripped out and his body covered in bite and claw marks.  Not one week later, another brother was found in the same way just outside the church door.  Four more brothers fell to the unseen menace before they abandoned the monastery all together, moving to different parts of the country.

Over time, as the monastery fell to ruin, a creepy silence fell over the land that it occupied.  Silence except for the howls and screeches that seemed to emanate from it’s stone walls late at night.  No one would say it out loud, but the townspeople knew that it was the creature that had once been the Mad Monk Matthias.

The sounds are heard to this day, and the people who live nearby, now, warn their children to behave and not to stay outside after the sun begins to set for Matthias is always hunting for flesh to fill his stomach and that of an innocent youth is his favorite!

Do you have stories like this where you live?  Matthias is just one of many boogeymen that roam the dark and shadowed places we all knew as kids.  Who was yours?  Thank you for joining us again for another of our favorite scary stories!  We hope you’ll join us again tomorrow as our countdown reaches its final days!

Featured Image by Ferdinand Bart Alst-Pixel Your Soul Photography